Dick Butkus had a history of heart-related health issues. In 2000, Butkus underwent a quintuple bypass surgery. According to Yahoo, Butkus went in for a routine cardiac checkup at the urging of a friend. Because Butkus hadn’t had regular medical screenings since he’d been actively playing in the NFL, he agreed, only to find his heart contained several life-threatening blockages. “They flipped [the scan] on, and it was five big blotches, and I said, ‘What’s that?'” Butkus told the outlet in 2012. “They said that they were blockages. I felt fine, but they did an angiogram, and the next day, it was a five-way bypass.” Butkus also revealed that, before the visit, he hadn’t experienced any symptoms. “So, [the scan] really saved my life,” he added.
During the last two decades of his life, Butkus made it his mission to share his story and promote the importance of heart health among fellow former athletes. In 2013, while promoting the NFL’s annual health screening at the Dick Butkus Heart and Vascular Screening Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, where he was treated, per BusinessWire, Butkus further stressed the importance of staying up-to-date with your checkups. “I feel kind of good about it because we’re saving lives,” Butkus said about the screenings, which benefited former pros, two years later in conversation with CBS.